A new season for the Pistons begins today. And another new Pistons blog appears in the blogosphere.
I’m a lifelong fan of my beloved Pistons, and I’m an avid follower of several Pistons blogs. Each of the blogs I follow has its own niche for me personally, and each of them produces excellent content on a consistent basis. My goal isn’t to compete with or reproduce what these blogs already do very well and better than I ever could. So, you won’t see (many) game recaps. You won’t see link dumps. You won’t see game threads. Hit the sidebar for several Pistons blogs that do that.
Instead, what you will see is statistical analysis applied to the Pistons (and maybe to some other teams that catch my fancy once in a while). Specifically, I will analyze and evaluate the Pistons through the lens of Wins Produced and its derivatives.
“But why would anyone want to do that?” You might ask. And it’s a great question.
A few years ago, a friend turned me onto the Wages of Wins Journal, a blog authored by Dr. David Berri. After reading through its archive, I hastily ordered Dr. Berri’s book, The Wages of Wins (and later on Stumbling on Wins). I read the book(s) in no more than a couple sittings. And things that I think I must have known somewhere beneath the surface of conscious knowledge started to make sense.
The 2004 Pistons were truly a great team. Ben Wallace actually was one of the game’s most dominant players. There’s a reason Dennis Rodman has so many Championship Rings.
In short, I think these metrics explain how teams and their players win basketball games, and I think they do it very well. I don’t think they’re perfect; in fact, we know they’re not. I don’t think the stories these numbers tell say everything that can be said; in fact, we know they don’t. But they do tell us a lot, and they tell their stories more accurately than any of their competitors.
And that’s why I’ve decided to start this blog – because there are stories to tell about the Pistons that aren’t yet being told.
If Wins Produced, et al, is unfamiliar to you, check out Required Readings. The Glossary of Terms might be useful too. Glad to have you along for the ride.
Awesome! Thank you for taking the time/initiative to do this! Can’t wait to read and participate
Any comment on the first two games? Is Greg Monroe ever going to play?
I hope too. I have been ill unfortunately. Thanks for the comments … I hope to write something by middle of next week.